


the fine line between thoroughness and vanity

by karanguni



Series: Nasdack [6]
Category: FFVII, FFXII
Genre: Drabble, Real world, Stockmarket AU, prompt-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-23
Updated: 2008-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-15 04:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karanguni/pseuds/karanguni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Random things on Tseng and Rufus</p>
            </blockquote>





	the fine line between thoroughness and vanity

—Tseng

 _On pets_

Tseng's not an anything-person. Fur gets on clothes and does not come off. His real reason, however, continues to be the fact that human beings are already troublesome enough to keep.

 _On ties_

 _Tseng doesn't care how many ways there are to tie them: he does his in a Windsor, and it stays in a Windsor._

 __On heritage_ _

Ask him to speak Chinese, Balthier. Just ask. He'll bite your fucking head off. Rufus learned this the hard way.

 _On personal grooming_

There is a fine line between thoroughness and vanity. He never crosses that line.

 _On fast things that have the potential to go faster_

Fast city life is, more often than not, not fast enough for him, and it invites one too many traffic jams.

-

 **1 random thing about his eating habits**

He eats at regularly appointed hours when he can, but does not make a fuss when he cannot. He's not a vegetarian. He has no objections to takeout unless it's takeout for the fifth day running. He likes his coffee strong. He holds his cup, always, with his left hand, which brings up questions as to why he's right handed.

 **2 random things about his wardrobe, because i can clearly count**

He has suits in more than one cut. Not many people notice, because Tseng wears them like they're just clothes, and they eventually become -- just clothes. He has wifebeaters for when he goes to the gym, though he never calls them that. He has an endless supply of jogging pants that double up for sleepwear. He owns jeans. He simply opts not to wear them. Balthier's suggestions will be ignored. Rufus does not offer any.

 **3 random things about his employment with Shinra**

At first they called him a bastard, then they called him persistent, then they called him a persistent bastard. They still do, actually, just never to his face. He and Rufus go a long way back, for more than just sexual reasons. He is not, contrary to what everyone believes, a case of sleeping to the top. He once got very angry with Rufus about that.

 **4 random things about his life**

If there is excess, Tseng will pare it down. He does not like sleeping more than he has to, he does not like eating more than he has to, he does not like working more than he has to, he does not like playing more than he has to, he does not like fucking more than he has to, he does not like reading more than he has to, he does not like being alone more than he has to, he does not like being around people more than he has to. People call him overly moderated. Tseng simply believes in the golden mean for everything, and knows - with the kind of introspection only a very determined man has - exactly where his means lie.

-

—Rufus

 _on family_

His mother was an excellent woman who was far more than his father deserved. She believed in fidelity, filialty and a woman's duty as a wife and a mother, even though she was given no reason to be any of the above. If Rufus' hard headedness comes from anything, it comes from the need to pay tribute to this woman who never spoke back, never argued, never raised her voice, and never objected to the abuse - psychological and physical - levelled upon her by her husband.

 _on fortunes_

Rufus does not believe in backing down, does not believe in God, does not believe in retaining traditions that don't matter, does not believe in failing to have substance, and does not believe in letting anyone else dictate what his life should be like. Does not believe in living frivolously, but he does believe in being a fine - and understated - actor. He's done the social networking thing, he's done the smiling and nodding thing, he's engineered charisma and perfectly nice smiles for cameras, and when he goes home at night he tears it off of himself like a loathed skin.

 _on food_

Rufus loves food. It never lies, and it always tastes good.

 _on taking things too seriously_

His father once sent him to Chicago and made him stay there. It was all the lesson he ever needed on discretion, arrogance, and how far he could push the man before the man pushed back. His stay was educational. He learned a bit about economics, a lot about living on his own, and even more about conducting long-distance relationships over cellphones, the internet, email, physical correspondence. Rufus loathes phone sex. It's a loathing that comes from too much fucking experience.

 _on taking things too lightly_

He's a couple of years younger than Tseng, even if he doesn't act it anymore - but he once did. It's a large part of why he still defers to the man as much as he does, in spite of being as hard-ass pushy as Reno describes him to be. Tseng's his foil. Rufus doesn't know of anyone else as blatantly honest and unflinchingly harsh.

 _on New York_

It's his city, and no one's taking it from him. He loved it from the moment he saw his whites against her dark shades, and has continued to love it through her bad days and her good.

 _on television_

When he's jetlagged from travel, he calls Tseng down to his townhouse and they take time for a slow, lazy screw to the silence of a muted television that casts lights and shadow onto the far wall.

 _on radio_

Rufus doesn't get the iPod thing. Reno does. Loudly. With iSpeakers or whatever they're called. Soundproofing's not only impressive. It's practical.

 _on language_

Rufus used to swear a lot, until he met Tseng - then he toned down. Then he met Reno - now he practically never swears at all.


End file.
